Role Reversal
by Nimrod The Writer
Summary: For all of his diabolical genius, Vlad has his moments. Things don't always go according to plan, and for one who tends to bank a lot on his plans, the consequences can be dire. Danny isn't the only one who should be afraid of Jack and Maddie...


I like this idea. :)

Enjoy?

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><p>There are days when I am forced to admit that my plans go horribly, horribly wrong.<p>

This is one of those days.

"Quick Jack! Activate the ghost shield!"

"On it, baby!"

The portly man moved faster than expected. Before I could spin around his hand was punching down a red button, unleashing a wave of green that enveloped the walls, leaving only two exits.

"The portal!"

Maddie's urgent voice woke me from my stupor. Weeks of planning was blowing up in my face, and all because they decided to come home early from a _ghost convention_. They weren't supposed to be here for another two hours! Immediately, I raised my hand and shot an ectoblast at the moron bounding for the control panel. He slammed into the wall, collapsing to the floor in a heap but almost instantly back on his feet. Maddie, enraged by my attack, was already running after me.

I dodged the ecto-bullets that whizzed past my head and avoided her furious kicks and punches. Jack was racing me to the portal, like he was going to block my path or something equally ridiculous. I clenched my jaw in aggravation, already thinking about the countless hours wasted. Now I'd have to go back to the drawing board and recalculate-

"Not so fast, ghost!"

A surprised gasp managed to make its way past my brimming irritation, bringing my flight to a screeching halt as the portal suddenly locked shut. Jack looked back at Maddie with a triumphant grin, holding a thumbs up. I was already changing directions though, a bead of concern dripping in. This wasn't turning out right at all. Now there was only one exit left and if Maddie-

I heard the metal door to the lab slam shut, a high pitched beep activating the security lock. A fair amount of anxiety was starting to mix with the concern. All of my exits were blocks. I was locked in the Fenton basement with two-well, one-accomplished ghost hunter. If the gravity of my situation wasn't quite hitting me yet, the savage look on Maddie's face as she prepared for battle was.

"We've got you now, you spectral freak!" she yelled, brandishing a jack-o-nine tails and a rather painful looking gun.

"Really Madeline, name calling? I know you're better than that." I replied flippantly, steeling myself for the imminent battle against my only love. Although, this situation may yet be a blessing in disguise. What better way for Jack to have an unfortunate death than through a chaotic ghost fight?

"How do you know my name?" she yelled angrily, so much distrust in her glare that it was practically palpable. "You're the Wisconsin Ghost. What are you doing all the way in Amity Park?"

"All excellent questions, none of which you will ever know the answer to. Now, lets get this little charade over with, hm? I have places to be."

Maddie responded with an attack, firing her well aimed blaster and singeing my cape. Jack tried to come from behind but since he made all the noise of an elephant, I easily dodged his attack and threw him to the other side of the lab with a particularly violent ectoblast.

"Jack!" Maddie cried, vengeance burning the glare she sent me, releasing a barrage of attacks.

I turned intangible, flying around the room to distract my adversaries and come up with the best way to handle this situation. Clearly, my greatest threat was Maddie. In a cruel twist of fate, though, I couldn't actually _harm _the woman of my dreams. Yet, I needed to disarm my attackers enough to get their thumb print on that control panel. Once the portal was unlocked I could put this entire debacle behind me and move on with my life. Yes, I think simply overshadowing Jack should do the trick.

And if he happens to accidentally fall and impale himself on a sharp object after I leave his body, well _whoops_, clumsy me.

Intangibility released, I wasted no time flying towards the lump still trying to pick himself up off the floor. Maddie yelled something that sounded like 'no' as I dove into the rotund man's body, easily gaining control and rushing to the control panel. A quick glance at Maddie gave away the desperate indecision on her face, her gun trained on my disguised form. She couldn't remove me without shooting Jack, undoubtedly harming him in the process. I knew her indecision wouldn't last long though. She's always been particularly ruthless when it comes to ghosts.

Unsurprisingly, hot blasts soon dogged my tail as I ran. Raining debris from cabinets, files, and beakers alike pattered to the floor around me. The control panel was nearly in reach, my escape practically guarante-

"I'm sorry Jack!" Maddie's pained cry came from behind me, and just as I was about to press the man's fat finger to the scanner, a well aimed blast caught me in the side and forced me out of Jack's body.

He fell to the floor with a groan, but I was too disoriented to really care. Maddie hadn't hesitated to keep attacking, her blasts carrying the doubled vengeance of a wronged woman. I suppose, upon looking back at the fight, I'll say it was my soft spot for her that impeded my victory. Truthfully though, it was simply Maddie's cold viciousness.

With all of my exits blocked and the lab becoming an increasingly small space to fight, the mixture of anxiety and concern was finally starting to turn into something akin to fear. A fiery blast caught my arm as I dodged the jack-o-nine tails, another grazing my leg. Jack had finally forced himself up at this point, furious at being so easily overshadowed. His attacks combined with Maddie's, making the fight that much more difficult.

Jack soon let loose an opening though, which I took immediate advantage of. He flew across the room again, thanks to the ectoblast that burned his gut. I took a moment to grin maliciously at his pain, and that was my undoing.

Maddie didn't hesitate to take advantage of my own opening, catching me in the stomach and ceaselessly firing even as I slammed into the wall. Panic sparked when I couldn't find a chance to turn intangible. The attacks were coming one after the other, not a single pause giving me relief. Inevitably, I received a sudden hit to the temple, and was out like a light.

* * *

><p>"Jack, he's waking up!"<p>

"Got it! Activating the dome shield!"

"Good job, sweetie! Here, have a cookie."

The muffled sounds of this relatively moronic exchange steadily grew louder. Darkness was still blinding me to my newest predicament, eyes shut tight as a pounding headache began to make itself known. As basic senses started to return, a dull assessment of my surroundings let me know that I was currently laying on something cool and hard. And that I was restrained.

Red, pupil-less eyes shot open the moment that last thought registered, the disaster battle with Maddie and Jack coming back full force. Without a moment to loose I struggled against the metal bands locked over my shoulders, arms, legs, and waist, so sure I could break their weak strength with my superior power. Panic pounded alongside my heart when they held fast, keeping me strapped to the chilly examination table. Further attempts to phase through the restraints failed as well, and when I tried to reach into my core to blast my way out via 'scary eyes', I simply couldn't. The harder I tried to focus on accessing my ghost powers, the fuzzier they became and the more my head felt like it was about to crack in two.

Well fudge buckets, this day wasn't going like I planned _at all_.

"Good luck, ghost." Jack's arrogant voice made me seethe. "You may be a high and mighty level ghost, but we got these restraints backed up by generator power. Not to mention the anti-ecto serum that's messing with your powers. So HA! You're not going nowhere!"

"Anywhere." I corrected bitterly, finding relief only in the fact that I hadn't transformed into my human half upon passing out. That would have been an _utter _disaster.

"Zip it, you." another voice seethed right back, Maddie's furious but smug visage coming into sight. "You're in no position to make bothersome comments."

I didn't reply, knowing she was partially right. It was best not to dig myself in a deeper hole with unnecessary stabs. Perhaps though, if I played my cards right, I could still talk my way out of this...

"Madeline...Maddie." I winced at the glare she sent me. "You strike me as a reasonable women, perhaps you can-"

"If you're trying to talk your way out of our grasp then don't bother. I know what kind of ghost you are, and _nothing _you say will help you." She replied curtly, turning away from me and instantly ending my attempt for a verbal escape. Instead she began fiddling with something on the counter to my right.

"Yeah! You tried to steal our portal!" Jack threw in.

"Oh please, don't remind me of _that _failure." I rolled my eyes, grimacing.

My eyes trailed off to my surroundings as the conversation fell short, taking in all the things that were preventing my escapes. Maddie and Jack had been very through in keeping me locked up. Wires trailed from the examination table to the large generator Jack had mentioned, the machine running on ecto power, judging by the converter I could see. There was also a green, domed ghost shield covering the circumference of the table, allowing plenty of room for the two hunters to stand next to me, but also close enough for them to jump away safely should I manage to break free. I spotted an empty needle dripping something green on a far off counter, probably containing that anti-ecto serum undoubtedly flowing through my veins and clouding my powers at the moment. Further inspection let me know that the portal was still closed, the lab door was still shut, _and _the shields around the walls were still operational. Perfect. It seemed I wouldn't be escaping anytime soon, then.

Something that sounded suspiciously like metal tools clinking together came from Maddie's direction, her back still turned to me. Jack had started blathering about nonsense a while ago, but I was trying not to listen to him as I had enough things stressing me out. The gravity of my situation was finally starting to sink in, especially when Maddie turned around with a tray of dissection tools.

"What do you think you are doing?" I asked coolly, self preservation surpassing my love for the woman as I glared at her.

"I thought I told you not to talk." She glared right back, yanking out a shelf from the table and setting the alarming tools down.

"I'll speak whenever I please when there's a scientist bending over me with _dissection tools_." I snapped, trying to ignore my increasing heart rate as she handed Jack his own set of instruments. That couldn't be good.

Maddie sighed irritatedly, slamming down the pair of scissors she'd picked up from the tray.

"Jack, I can't work if he's going to keep distracting me like this." She complained, acting like I wasn't even there.

"Easy Mads." The fat man smiled, and she grudgingly smiled back. It was sickening. "Don't let him get to you, he's just a ghost."

Maddie took a deep breath, attempting to regain her patience. She smiled at her husband one last time and snapped her red goggles over her face, picking up the scissors with renewed vigor.

"Alright ghost," Her voice was cold. She leaned over me like a wraith as Jack turned on a bright light and shined it down at me, hovering over my restrained and struggling form as well. "Get ready to give us some answers."

With a sickening lurch I knew I couldn't deny it anymore. If I didn't do something quick, I was about to become the latest science experiment of Jack and Maddie Fenton.

"Right." I winced. "What do you want to know and how can we work out a deal for me to tell you?"

Maddie laughed derisively, though I expected nothing less. I was more reaching for straws at this point. I knew that all the information they wanted wasn't something I could just say. They wanted to find out for themselves via cutting me open, which made me more than a little queasy, to be honest. To think Daniel lives in constant fear of this on a daily basis...

"We want to know what makes you tick, and studying your ectoplasmic entrails will give us everything we need to know." The focused woman replied in a sickly sweet voice. For a mother she's incredibly cold hearted. Perhaps if I appealed to her more compassionate side...

"Maddie, please. I'm all for the advance of science myself, but at least I'm _humane _about it." Well mostly. Okay not really, but she doesn't need to know that. "Do you honestly see nothing wrong with cutting open a sentient being?"

"Oh please ghost, we know you can't feel pain." She waved her hand flippantly, Jack backing up her absurd claim with a deft nod. "Besides, you're already dead, so it's not like we can kill you."

"No, but giving me post traumatic stress disorder is most certainly possible." I muttered hastily, the panic leaking into my voice as she started cutting away my shirt.

Maddie rolled her eyes and Jack looked confused at my comment, resembling a troll.

"Is he making a joke, Maddie?"

"Yes Jack."

The sad thing is, I really wasn't. However, revealing my true form and thus forgoing everything I've worked for over the past twenty years was not yet an option. There had to be a way for me to get out of this.

"What evidence do you have to support such an absurd theory?" I snapped, talking about their belief that all ghosts somehow had congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis.

"Which one? The pain _fact_?" She asked offhandedly. My glared was answer enough, and Maddie rolled her eyes as though I were being particularly dense. "Ghost's don't have a nervous system. You're mostly composed of ectoplasm, not human central nervous systems."

She had the gall to chuckle, casually removing the tattered remains of my shirt and cape and tossing them to the floor. Now any other day I wouldn't have been bothered with Maddie seeing my well sculpted pectorals and abdominals, but strapped to a cold examination table with two ignorant scientists wielding scalpels left me feeling incredibly exposed. I grit my teeth at the hated feeling of vulnerability, trying to shove down my frustration, anxiety, and fear so I could _think_.

"And where did you come up with the belief that all ghosts are the same?" I spat, not quite able to restrain a jump as Jack suddenly stuck a needle in my arm and extracted a blood sample. He wasn't very gentle about it either, the oaf.

"How can the physical make up of one ghost be any different compared to another?" Maddie asked, her tone again indicating that I was nothing more than a petulant child. "You're all apart of the same ectoplasmic 'species', it's not like there's any room for variation."

"Really? So you're telling me there isn't a _single ghost _who falls outside of your concocted expectations of 'normal'?" I sneered, thinking of her own son.

"No, the-" she stopped, suddenly looking frustrated, "Well I suppose Danny Phantom occasionally falls outside the typical expectations for a ghost, but that doesn't mean his physical make up is any different."

"Yeah, he must have some kinda mental problem or something!" Jack pipped in, and were the situation not so dire I might have laughed. "But when we capture him-and after we tear him apart molecule by molecule of course-Mads and I will dissect his head to figure out why he's so weird!"

That part wasn't funny at all. I grimaced in disgust, seeing a side of Maddie and Jack that I hadn't remembered, if it was even there twenty years ago. When I got out of this, I'd have to be sure to keep a closer eye on Daniel so he didn't end up on the sharp side of their scalpel either. Speaking of which...

"Wait, stop. _Stop!_" I yelled, the sight of the gleaming tool hovering over my skin causing a sudden wave of panic to shoot through me. This couldn't be happening, they were actually going to dissect me alive!

"This is insane! You two can't honestly sit here and cut me open when I'm _clearly _a being perfectly capable of those emotions you claim I don't have!"

"Tch, really ghost, now you're just getting desperate." Maddie scoffed, laying the cold scalpel on my chest and picking up a pair of scissors. "We know how crafty you are. You're just trying to make us _think _you have emotions like a human."

"Yeah, but it's not gonna work on us! We aren't gonna fall for your ectoplasmic tricks!" Jack punched the air triumphantly, narrowly missing he blinding light aimed at my exposed chest.

"_It's not a trick, how can you be so blind!" _

Neither Maddie nor Jack paid any heed to my rage, bending back into their work and ignoring the panicked breath I could no longer control. This was beyond insane. How could things have gotten so far? There _had_ to be a way out of this!

"Jack, we forgot to get a skin sample. Get the petri dish and the tweezers, will you?"

"On it, Baby!"

"What would your children think if they saw you like this?" I snarled desperately, jerking away from her touch for the first time in my life.

Maddie glared at me, more irritated than anything else.

"Well seeing as they're both smart enough to know what a menace you are, I doubt they'd fall for your tricks or care. Not to mention the fact that they're both completely uninterested in our ghost careers. Hon, grab another shot of the anti-ecto serum, just in case."

"I can't _believe _you can be so _blind_ and _stupid_!" I seethed, using all my strength to fight the tranquilizer restricting my ghost powers before even more was added. My head ached horribly with each attempt, the pain nearly eliciting a groan. Jack reappeared at my side and carelessly stuck a needle in, injecting more of the glowing green chemical that left me helpless. I felt its deadening effects rush up my arm, soon spreading through my entire body and suppressing my powers like a waterlogged blanket.

"Resorting to baseless insults? You must finally be realizing that you're not getting away this time."

Maddie smiled at me, the corners of her mouth twisting up with a frightfully malicious skew that looked so out of place. I could hardly believe my eyes when she tied an apron over her suit and told Jack to start the recorder. Her voice sounded thick and fuzzy in my ears, and I wasn't sure if it was from the extra serum or the sheer surreality of the situation. If I didn't get a miracle...I could very well die on this table.

"The time is 8:53 pm and the subject in question is the elusive Wisconson Ghost." Maddie began the nightmare in a cold, professional tone, talking for the voice recorder and completely ignoring my desperate struggling. "I'm going to begin the procedure with a diagonal cut across the right pectoral and moved down the chest cavity..."

Maddie's narration became haunting background noise, and without hesitation, she pressed the scalpel into my skin. The razor sharp blade cut into my flesh like butter, tearing threw sinewy muscle and opening a long incision down my chest . I thought I'd be able to hold back a scream, but pain like I've never experienced lit up my system. I couldn't choke it back, the foreign sound filling my ears. She didn't stop, continuing her slow, precise cuts that were so unlike the quick attacks of battle. Those I could handle...they lasted but seconds and then adrenaline erased the pain, but this...this slow, _agonizingly slow _carving torture had me screaming from the depth of my lungs.

"The subject remains stubborn in keeping up his facade, faking pain to the point of obnoxiousness."

"_I am not faking this-damn it all, just stop!"_

Another scream forced its way out when they pulled the lacerated skin back. I could _feel _it, nearly throwing up and still so desperately struggling to free myself. Any concepts of time or reality or wretched _planning_ were utterly thrown out the window. I just wanted them to stop; God, I was willing to do whatever it took to _make them _stop. But in my paralyzed position, I could do nothing but lay there as they cut me open.

"Jack, look at this! He seems to have the ghostly equivalent of an organ system!"

"Whoa! Look at that Mads!"

The orange-clad bastard had the nerve to stick one of his fat fingers into my chest cavity, literally poking something that no doubt had _no _business being poked at! Maddie said something again, but I couldn't focus enough to listen. The world was becoming suffocatingly small, limited to the feel of cold ectoplasm spilling and dripping down my sides, the hard laborious breath in my ears that I could barely believe was mine, and an uncontrollable shaking that left me teetering on the edge of keeping my secret. I...I couldn't loose control of my ghost form...I couldn't let them find out-

"What do you think this is, Jack? Some sort of pseudo-bone material? Maybe we should get a sample."

When the roaring drone of a god-damned _bone saw _blazed through my ears, I finally lost control of my last mental barrier and experienced pure panic as it flooded my mind.

"_Stop! __**Stop!**_"

I was screaming, but they weren't listening. I could only writhe in agony, the horrible, deafening sound of a buzzing saw blade and cracking bone orchestrating the hysteria spinning in my head. Intrusive hands were poking and moving about my organs, further stretching and tearing the skin like I was a laboratory cadaver. They might have been talking again, but I had no conscious awareness of anything going on beyond my own body. There wasn't a foreseeable end to the suffering. The agony erased my past, my goals, my future. There was only pain, and desperately, I went so far as wishing for death just to _end it_.

Maddie and Jack continued to talk with their muffled voices that I couldn't understand anymore. They took more and more samples and then the bone saw roared again. I'm not sure if I was struggling anymore, or if I even had the strength to struggle. Extensive blood loss had done more than render me dizzy. My limbs were too heavy to move. I couldn't even care about the revelation of my greatest secret anymore. In fact, as the saw came closer, I don't even think I screamed.

Someone did though. He screamed loud enough to be heard over both the humming surgical blade and the thick fog in my head.

"_**What the hell are you doing!**_"

Jack and Maddie froze. I heard running footsteps and then there was a scuffle with lots of confused shouts and yelling. I think Daniel threw the saw blade to the floor and smashed it into tiny pieces, or at least smashed something against the floor. Warm hands suddenly grabbed my face, his panicked voice coming from directly above.

"Plasmius? Vlad? Vlad! Wake up Vlad!"

I tried to open my eyes, still hearing scuffling and yelling. Daniel's hands were suddenly gone, like someone had dragged him away. More yelling and screaming echoed around me, getting louder. The boy was still there, fighting tooth and nail against his undoubtedly dumbfounded parents.

"Let go of me! What-What are you-How-_fix him right now!_"

"Danny, sweetie, calm down. He's just a ghost, there's nothing-"

"Don't you tell me to calm down!" He roared, the room literally trembling from the power of his wail. "You're supposed to be scientists, not psycho murderers! Don't touch me! Fix him right _**now**_!"

"Danny-"

"NOW!"

Only Maddie and Jack could repair my extensive wounds at this point, but no matter how hysterical the boy sounded, I knew they wouldn't-

Renewed pain woke me up immediately, pulling me from the depths of my brain like a drowned man to the surface. I gasped and groaned as I felt my skin fold back into place, shock leaving me speechless. The fog in my head was rapidly clearing as repeated stabs of yet more pain forced me into a tortured consciousness. Someone was squeezing the life out of my hand, though, telling me that it would be okay and that it would be over soon and to just hold on a little longer. It didn't take a genius to figure out who that was, even to one in my state.

"Just hold on Vlad, don't die, please don't die, they're putting you back together now, it'll be fine just hold on okay? They're almost done, I swear, oh _fuck _I can't believe this-"

"Daniel." I finally, _finally _managed to rasp out.

Immediately, he went quiet, and I found the strength to crack open my eyes just enough to see his terrified blue orbs inches from my own.

"Please..." I panted weakly. "Shut...up..."

From the crack of my eyes I watched him blink in confusion, the grasp on my hand never shifting. Then a smile-small and weak, but still there-broke on his face and with it came a kind of relief that somehow managed to soothe me as well.

"You're such a fruitloop." He whispered, squeezing my hand.

I chuckled, or at least tried to, but ended up more coughing than laughing. Exhaustion took its toll as I closed my eyes again, much to the alarm of my young guardian. Slowly, the stabbing pain of the stitches slowly came, without a single word from whoever it was doing the stitching. For once, I had no clue what was going to happen next. Stitching me up to appease their hysterical son was one thing, but Daniel would never be able to get them to release me.

I was only half aware of the very tense and thick silence above me. Without the excruciating pain of the vivisection, I could feel my mind coming back, bringing years as an experienced mastermind with it and already going through all of my options. Daniel was an uncontrollable variable, though, so until I planned anything I'd have to rely on what he decided to do...

"Is he gonna heal okay?" He asked them, glaring coldly and never moving from my side.

Jack and Maddie exchanged stunned and concerned looks, clearly unsettled with their son's attitude. Maddie at least had the tact to understand that this situation needed to be dealt with delicately, evidenced by her careful reply.

"Danny...it's just a ghost, sweetie. He can't di-"

"_Is he going to heal correctly or not?_" Daniel demanded, and his parents started at the uncharacteristically authoritative tone. Uncharacteristic for Fenton, at least. Phantom, however, was another matter.

They exchanged another look, this one more significant. Though still clearly confused, I recognized the parental look in their eyes, my guard automatically going up as they silently resolved to take control of the situation.

"He'll heal fine, Danny-boy." Jack began gently, taking a step towards him to which Daniel tensed at. Despite the dire circumstances, I couldn't help but take a little satisfaction out of that.

Daniel, with a calculative gleam in his eye that I so enjoyed, looked back and forth between his parents. He could see the same thing I could, the cautious but resolute expressions. If Daniel didn't act fast they were going to remove him from the situation, probably lock the lab door, and continue their little science experiment on me. Not that it would do much to stop a hybrid like him, but I could only pray that he wouldn't try to get me out of here as Phantom. If they could catch me, they'd certainly catch him.

Luckily, three years of being my favorite adversary had taught him a thing or two about strategy. He looked down at me, the weight of our own silent exchange completely undecipherable to Jack and Maddie, but I understood. Daniel looked back at his parents, slowly moving his hand away from mine.

"Mom...Dad..." He had their full attention, especially with the pained gleam of a personal betrayal in his eyes. Whatever Daniel wanted to say, though, he didn't seem to be able to force out. But what could he say, really?

He only shook his head, and suddenly pushed a hidden button that released me from my nightmare.

I was gone before Jack or Maddie could react, ignoring the screaming pain emanating from my chest and poisoning my entire body. Adrenaline comforted my nerves as I rushed to the portal, looking to the large control panel that unlocked the doors to my freedom. Daniel was already there, pressing his thumb to the scanner. For three seconds our eyes met, and for once, I didn't understand what was exchanged. It was too open, leaving an odd feeling in my stomach as I dove through the pool of green and rushed away. Daniel had caught me in one of the most vulnerable moments of my life, and he had saved me.

Despite all the chaos, confusion, and trauma running rampant in my head, there was one thing I was absolutely sure of.

This changed everything.


End file.
